Comments on College List?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior this year, and I'm working on putting together and finalizing my college list, as preparation for visit planning(yikes!). </p>

<p>Some background:
Public Highschool, Northern VA
GPA: 4.09 W, 3.96 W (+.5 for every AP)
This is where my GPA will be for junior year, unless a catastrophe of some sort occurs. </p>

<p>I'm taking the SAT in May, so I don't have scores yet. Most recent PSAT was CR: 80 M: 63 W: 71. </p>

<p>The year before I got an 80 on the writing, and I'm a strong writer, so I'm not particularly worried about it. I am a terrible test-taker in math, so I've been studying since the PSAT and hopefully that score will come up in May. </p>

<p>ECs:
Crew 3 years, varsity two, select fall rowing program this year. Might be team prez. senior year. </p>

<p>Orchestra 10 years. Violin since 1st grade, 2x yearly recitals and competition in a solo festival since 3rd grade. School's top orchestra, been in honors orchestra. In Tri-M, the music honor society, VP. I'm not a stellar violinist, but I'm definitely around the average for my age and years playing. </p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society since freshman year. No leadership position. May be attending VA Gov's school for Spanish. I find out in April.</p>

<p>Science: This year, my sci fair project and I are going the Intel ISEF Fair, all expenses paid by the county school board. Whoo! Grand Prize Winner @ Regional Fair.</p>

<p>Community Service: Also, tutor regularly in science, spanish, since my freshman year. This year, the hours are up from 1/wk to 2/wk. I also TA in an English class during my lunches, all this year. Helped organize the NHS tutor-during-lunches effort at my school. </p>

<p>Employment: Sailing Instructor, local sailing camp. 2 years. My boss could probably write me a pretty killer rec if I asked her to. </p>

<p>Interests: Science, science, and science. My natural talents have a slight humanities-related bent to them, but my actual interests are in the sciences. Potential majors: chem, physics, chem/mech/general engineering. Something like that. </p>

<p>The list:
MIT
Princeton (legacy, father and grandfather were both undergrads)
Univ. Chicago
Caltech
Carleton
Northwestern (ISP) </p>

<p>I'd like comments on the list. If anyone could suggest a school or two that would be less reachy but still strong, that would be nice. Preferably not a school in the south. By CC standards, it's low (6). </p>

<p>A note: I know about UVA and VTech. I've been down to both of them, I've stayed on campus at UVA, and I know they're both great schools. Unfortunately, I don't like either of them. I'm going to apply to UVA anyway, because my parents are making me. But I sincerely hope I don't have to go there.</p>

2

<p>what do you want to study in college?</p>

3

<p>I know this is in the south but Emory. Atlanta doesn't really belong in the south in and of itself, and Emory is really the posterchild of that. It is very similar to the other schools you listed, but ranked higher in the sciences (except for Princeton and MIT). Climate is pretty average, 80 at begining of 1st semester, 25 at end, 22 at begining of 2nd semester, 80 by spring break, 85 by end (I dont know if it was climate or just the idea of being in the south that was a turn off. You also may want to look at the CalStates, Cornell, Michigan (if you can handle that big of a school) and WUSTL</p>

4

<p>Cal States (CSUs) aren't really all that competitive. I think you meant the University of California (UC) - of which Berkeley (UCB) and Los Angeles (UCLA) are the flagships.</p>

5

<p>If you're into engineering, maybe Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Also if you don't mind a big school you could try the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. You really need some safeties on that list (though I'm not familiar with Carleton, so maybe that is one). I'd say you'd have an excellent shot at Rose, and probably at U of I (though my view on the second one is kind-of skewed, they accept 96% of applicants from my school). </p>

<p>I'd try to narrow the list, though. Maybe 6 isn't that many for CC, but I think any more than that is going overboard. My school recommends two safeties, two matches, and two reaches. You have a lot of really tough schools on your list. Maybe swap a couple for some that are slightly less competitive? (I'm not saying you can't get in, just that if you can, it's pretty pointless to apply to them all anyway).</p>

6

<p>I should probably add that I'm applying early action to MIT and Chicago. If I get in at either one of those, then I'll only be applying one more place, Princeton. That's partly because I want to know if I can get in, partly 'cause it's family tradition, and just a little because my Dad would die of happiness if I went. Obviously, it's an excellent school. I could be happy there. </p>

<p>IMSAgeek: I know safties are my real problem. I haven't found any I'm really in love with though. UVA is a saftey for my GPA from my school, based on who's gotten accepted there with what GPAs from past years. Guidance has scatterplots. </p>

<p>What do you know about Rose-Hulman for the hard sciences, in case I'm not a future engineer? I honestly haven't decided yet. It sounds like I would enjoy it, but the legions of people who were future-engineers---before they decided they really hated engineering and dropped out of their major---scare me just a little. </p>

<p>Calicartel: Aren't UCs hard for OOS applicants? I'm not from CA. </p>

<p>MattEisn: I'd rather not go somewhere huge. I did look at UWisconsin-Madison for a while, but like UMich, it's just too big for me. I was under the impression that WUSTL is rather on the competitive side. I'm looking for more safties/good match schools. I have a pretty reachy list right now. </p>

<p>Thanks, everyone, for your help.</p>

7

<p>IMSAgeek, Carleton is not a safety. It's pretty much in range with the rest.</p>

<p>I would look at Reed in Portland for Science. Small, you can design your own major for the most part, many go on to further studies in neurobiology and the like. DD1 has it as her #1 choice (still waiting to hear). However, if cost is an issue it may not work. They offer only need based aid.</p>

8

<p>William and Mary. First thing I thought of when I saw your location was "nova" northern Va. They draw a large number of applicants from that region, and as a public school they accept way more in-staters than out of staters. If you haven't visited, do so.</p>

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<p>Is William and Mary that much less competitive than the other schools? I was under the impression it was on the difficult side. </p>

<p>Reed is also on the competitive side, isn't it? I'm looking for 'safties' more than anything else. I have the reaches and matches(ish) pretty well covered, I think.</p>

<p>If anyone else wants to weigh in, I'd appreciate it.</p>

10

<p>Reed is quite hard, but I wouldn't call it competive, in the sense that grades are never posted, and are given to students only if they ask to see them, and the culture is not to ask. Papers are handed back with comments but no grades. The campus GPA has been about 3.0 for over 20 years, so there's no competive pressure to drive up grades. Some ivy types might consider Reed a safety, but the school is more about fit than GPA or SAT.</p>

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<p>W&M isn't an easy school to get into by any stretch, but for in-staters the SATs are significantly lower than those of MIT or Princeton. I know the average GPA hovers near a 4.0 for in-staters, most likely because of the lower quality of most VA schools.</p>

<p>Check it out on petersons or collegeboard or something.</p>

<p>As for safeties-- consider URochester-- a personal favorite as I'm an ED applicant. I know a lot of UChicago kids apply there as well as the atmospheres tend to be somewhat similar. Also, consider schools like Oberlin, as I think it's pretty close to Carlton's atmosphere...</p>

12

<p>Elorax, Rose-Hulman has strong physics (you can actually be a physics major, engineering physics major, or optical engineering major), chemistry, and applied biology programs. I know a lot of chem majors who were originally ChemE's who decided sophomore year (after taking some actual engineering classes) that engineering was not for them.</p>

<p>I would definitely encourage you to look at it. It would be a safe choice for you, but it's definitely a hard core school. It's very well respected in the academic and industrial world and the campus community is very strong. If you want an outstanding math, science, or engineering experience, I would recommend it.</p>

13

<p>Nic,</p>

<p>Do you go to Rose-Hulman? What do you know about undergrad research there? Do the students generally want to go on to PhDs, or are they more interested in employment after undergrad? </p>

<p>I did some searching around, and I'm definitely interested! Thanks for the tip, I'll have to look into it more. They sent me the Operation Catapult thing, but I've already committed to working for my boss again this summer.</p>

14

<p>ELorax,
Yes, I go to Rose-Hulman. Undergrad research is obviously not as prominent as it is at research universities; the focus here is on undergraduate education. I think the % of people who go on to get PhD's is 15-20. I don't know how it compares to everywhere else. I would definitely say that most people go on to just get their masters or go into industry, but if you want to get your PhD, your education here will not be a hinderance. I've seen the list of schools that students go onto for graduate studies, and it includes pretty much every major tech school (Caltech, MIT, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech among others) and then some.</p>

<p>As far as undergrad research goes, there's opportunities, at least from what I've seen. Especially if you come in with some advanced credit in physics or chemistry. Obviously professors will be leery about a freshman in Chem II working on a serious research project, but if you get a 5 on your AP Chem test you can jump into some real chem with organic and analytical. Physics I don't know that much about, except that you can test out of some physics via AP. Any real engineering projects would have to wait until your sophomore year after you've gotten into some real engineering classes.</p>

15

<p>where is northren VA? lol</p>

<p>I definitely don't see a problem for you to get into W&M in-state. If you were out of state, yes.</p>

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<p>Namtrag,
Northern VA: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Virginia%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Virginia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The main difference is that NOVA tends to have a less southren feel than the rest of the state. There are also more people with liberal/Democratic leanings than in Virginia in general. It's pretty economically prosperous too. The county where I live has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and the school system (Fairfax County) is excellent.</p>

<p>Nic, </p>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I'll definitely have to visit before the fall! </p>

<p>I'm still open to more input, if anyone else feels like chipping in.</p>

17

<p>Elorax</p>

<p>I was just kidding, my wife is from there.</p>

<p>I was just pointing out it is misspelled in your location.</p>

18

<p>So it is. I hadn't even noticed. Word is slowly eroding my ability to spell properly. Thanks for the heads up.</p>

19

<p>The one piece of advice I'm now giving to juniors after my friends' and my experiences this year is...add a LOT of match schools!! You've got some reaches there, so try to add a few more "better bets" like UMich, UNC, Emory, etc. That way, even if you don't get into your reaches, you'll have plenty of options. Good luck!!</p>

20

<p>Mochamaven,
I saw an article in the paper recently reporting record numbers of rejections for this year's decisions. Scary stuff! I'm definitely looking to add more matches and safties to my list. Any other suggestions for 'good bets'?</p>